Utah Legislature midpoint: Fewer bills introduced, but more passed

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The 45-day general session of the Utah Legislature hit its halfway point on Tuesday and, "We have passed more bills and introduced fewer bills" than normal, said Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Valentine, R-Provo.

He said the Legislature so far introduced 483 bills Â the least at this stage for any session during the past decade. The previous low mark in that time was 485 bills, and the highest was 672.

Valentine said 65 bills had passed both houses. In the past 10 years, the highest was 74 and the lowest was 38.

"I like the fact that we have introduced fewer bills by a long ways. We've introduced almost 200 bills less than in 2003, which was the high water mark," Valentine said. "That means more of the bills will be able to be reviewed by the body rather than have a whole load of bills that we can't review."

He added, "I think it shows we are efficient with how we are dealing with the bills." He said most of the bills passed so far received scrutiny during interim meetings of the Legislature through the year, so they were ready for quick action with the general session convened.

 Lee Davidson

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